χῶρος δ᾽ ὅδ᾽ ἱρός. Cp. Plat. Phaedr. 230B, where Socrates recognises the sacred character of the spot by the Ilissus: “Νυμφῶν τέ τινων καὶ Ἀχελῴου ἱερὸν ἀπὸ τῶν κορῶν τε καὶ ἀγαλμάτων” (the votive dolls and images) “ἔοικεν εἶναι”. There, too, τὸ σύσκιον was a feature. ὡς σάφ᾽ εἰκάσαι, A's reading, is preferable to ὡς ἀπεικάσαι, which would imply a more diffident guess. The poet of Colonus intends that the sacred character of the grove should at once impress the Theban maiden; and σάφα is confirmed by the emphasis of δάφνης, ἐλαίας, ἀμπέλου. It has been objected that σάφα is inconsistent with εἰκάσαι. But it merely expresses the speaker's own belief that her guess is right; as we can say, "a certain conjecture." In L's reading, ὡς ἀφεικάσαι, it seems more likely that a second ς should have been lost than that π should have become φ. For the constr. with ὡς, cp. Tr. 1220 “ὥς γ᾽ ἐπεικάζειν ἐμέ.” ὡς is omitted below, 152. βρύων takes a dat. in its literal sense of "sprouting" (“βρύει ἄνθεϊ” Il. 17.56), but either a dat. (as Aristoph. Nub. 45) or a gen. in its figurative sense of "being full." [Plat.] Axiochus 371 C “ἄφθονοι μὲν ὧραι παγκάρπου γονῆς βρύουσι” (evidently pieced together from some poet).
This text is part of:
Sophocles: The Plays and Fragments, with critical notes, commentary, and translation in English prose. Part II: The Oedipus Coloneus. Sir Richard C. Jebb. Cambridge. Cambridge University Press. 1899.
Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education provided support for entering this text.
This text was converted to electronic form by professional data entry and has been proofread to a high level of accuracy.
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 United States License.
An XML version of this text is available for download, with the additional restriction that you offer Perseus any modifications you make. Perseus provides credit for all accepted changes, storing new additions in a versioning system.